In the present application the wording “dispensing machines” generally refers to both so-called “vending” and “dispensing” machines, i.e. to machines including a means of payment of the dispensed product (vending machines), and machines without a means of payment of the dispensed product (dispensing machines). Exemplary vending machines are those for selling to the public newspapers, flowers, CDs, drinks, snacks and similar products; exemplary dispensing machines are machines for dispensing hot and cold beverages, foodstuff, etc. as can be found e.g. in hotel lobbies or airport lounges or even as a domestic appliance. The invention particularly relates to dispensing machines for food products in liquid or solid form. Combinations of the above features, e.g. a coffee dispensing machine having a payment system, are obviously within the scope of the present application.
Dispensing machines provided with different electro-mechanical components as modules (and eventually sub-modules) interconnected one to another via electrical or digital signals are known. A modular design results in maintenance cost reduction, in fact the modules are usually designed to ensure reduced dismantling time and easy replacement in case of failure, even by non specialized personnel, with no need for shipping the machine to the technical assistance plant.
For instance, a typical modular espresso coffee and cappuccino dispensing machine (the assembly) may be composed of several modules (sub-assemblies) comprising one module for brewing coffee from roasted coffee beans, one module for reconstituting liquid milk from granulated de-hydrated milk and another module for water filtration, plus the controller module. In this instance, the module for brewing coffee may be composed by the actual brewing unit, at least one solenoid valve, pump, coffee-grinder motor, brewing-unit motor, dosing device and water-heating device.
Dispensing machines are known being provided with systems for reading information stored in electronic tags, mostly transponders or RFID devices (RFIDs), which are secured to the products to be delivered to the customers by means of the dispensing machine.
RFID tags are low-cost, miniaturised “smart” chips generally containing an embedded antenna for transmitting and receiving data to and from a reader (or a scanner) separated from the tags. Generally, electronic tags are attached or secured by the manufacturer to the product packages before the same packages are loaded into the vending machines. The tags may contain several data, such as identification codes, anti-adulteration codes, instructions for the related vending machine, the expiration date of a certain product, etc.
WO01/43088 to Balfour and Harris discloses a dispensing machine having a display, a key-pad and a control unit to connect the machine to a remote central computer. The control unit can be connected to sensors and other devices to asses the status of the machine and perform logical functions such as temperature control, water flow etc. The control unit can also interrogate electronic tags provided on the product containers e.g. to warn of outdated stock being used.
CA 2437137 to Lindsay and Reade discloses a dispensing machine wherein the products in the machine are associated with a smart tag that contains information regarding the food product contained therein. A smart tag reader is incorporated with the dispensing machine and used to retrieve the product information from the smart tags.
WO 01/17893 to Saveliev and Shuster discloses food and beverage containers having attached or connected transponders. A transponder exciter is placed in or near the food or beverage dispenser for energizing the transponder on the food or beverage container, and for discerning information therefrom. The information from the containers can be used to track the containers and control the type and amount of consumable material with which the containers are filled.
WO 03/005295, to Thomas, Cardwell and Hu, concerns an apparatus and the related method for providing tags readable by vending machines, such as programmable RFID tags. Tags include machine-readable information regarding a product to be processed and/or delivered to a customer. For example, the tag may include identification information in electronic form for the product to avoid unauthorized products to be used in the machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,468, to Riek, discloses a transponder placed on a container adapted to be opened via an electromagnetically activated stopper valve located on a vending machine.
Electronic tags are also provided for carrying out products. For example, US-A-2003/0030539 discloses a vend audit apparatus and method for tracking inventory in a vending machine. The technique includes loading items having tags into a dispensing machine, sensing the tags, and transferring information to a control circuit provided within the machine.
Tracking of the products to be loaded into vending machines, as well as dispensing machines, etc., is achieved by way of passive RFID tags provided within the products, as described in WO 01/26047.
In WO 03/071496 to Schwarzli et al., a vending machine is provided with a counter that records each vend in an electronic tag. The tag is periodically read by an interrogator that downloads and erases the data stored in the tag memory. The aim is the keep track of the vends and reconcile them with the amount of money collected.
Electronic tags may be secured in different ways to a product depending on the nature of the same product. EP-A-0615285 discloses a method for applying transponders to a substrate, such as cardboard packaging material, by adhering an integrated circuit to the substrate, applying a patch antenna to the substrate and the integrated circuit, and applying a sealing layer over the integrated circuit and at least a portion of the antenna.
Other systems are known for embedding or securing an integrated circuit to different products by way of adhesive labels, clips, etc.
The previously mentioned documents relate to apparatus and methods that provide a correlation between the products to be delivered by a dispensing machine and the machine itself. In most cases the known apparatus and methods do not take into account internal operation of the machines, i.e. tags contain information about the foodstuff to be delivered by a machine, but when the machine operates, it recognizes the data according to preset automatic procedures. In WO 03/071496 the tag has a re-writable portion (RAM) where the number of vending events is memorized. Possibly, further operational data such as temperature, type of products sold etc. are memorized in the RAM portion.
Known dispensing machines have several drawbacks that derive mainly from being subject to heavy use and located in many different places, different conditions of use and different maintenance routines.
Maintenance is a major problem.
Modules and single mechanical, electrical or electro-mechanical components of dispensing machines have a limited life-span, usually expressed in terms of “hours of operation” or “number of executed cycles” or other values such as “liters of water”, “number of cups”, total vends and similar. Also, machines dispensing hot drinks can run according to different procedures according to the product to be dispensed, this resulting in a quicker use of the “life-span” of, e.g. the coffee module with respect to the “milk module”.
To avoid breakdowns of the machine and interruption of the sales or of the dispensing services, a periodical maintenance has to be carried out and, in fact, maintenance is provided as part of the average contract for a dispensing machine. Such a maintenance is extremely expensive even in the modular dispensing machines and the increasing labour cost is forcing service companies in charge of such maintenance to become extremely accurate in the use of their time. Moreover, the machine parts have a warranty: e.g. a pump is guaranteed, for instance for a certain amount of cycles corresponding to two hours of operations, or for two years, and has to be replaced free-of-costs if it fails within those conditions.
In view of the above, there is the need to check if the actual use to which the machine was subjected had respected the standard conditions of use of the dispensing machine. As an example, in the previously mentioned case of the pump, there is the need to ascertain what happened to a failed water pump and if it has failed because it was defective or because e.g. the water filter was not replaced at the correct time, or because the pump life-span had expired.
Another problem of these known machines is their quality control, both at the production stage and when maintenance is carried out. Inserting the wrong module could result in damaging the machine or in a bad beverage being dispensed.
A still further problem derives from the fact that traditional dispensing machines do not allow for inhibiting the activation of specific modules. For example, it could be desirable for the manufacturer or the owner of a vending machine, for example a coffee dispensing machine, to limit one or more functions of the machine to the loaner or to a specific user or group of users of the same machine. It is also desirable to deny the use of a module, especially a food module, if the state or the origin of the said module is not correct, i.e. if the module does not come from the machine manufacturer or loaner or if its life span has expired.
It is known, e.g. from previously mentioned application WO 03/005295, to provide the food container with a tag that includes identification information such as a number, and to provide the controller with a list of all the identification information that has been applied to all the tags that can be “used” by the dispensing machine. This results in the necessity of memorizing a huge amount of information in the controller memory and in periodically updating it: the I.D. number of each food container has to be memorized and new numbers must be provided to be sure the relevant containers can be used in the machine. The same process has to be carried out in all the machines that may make use of the tagged food containers.
Such memorizing operations are long, complex and source of possible errors.
Thus, there is the need for an active control of the dispensing machines, of their modules and components and of their operation, that is reliable, easy and cost-effective.
More particularly, there is a need for a dispensing machine that could provide an improved and new control on the machine operation and on the consumables associated with the dispensing machine operation.